


Shallows.

by Beckon



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Kidman2K15, Major Character Injury, Mystery, Post Game!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-14 17:59:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3420245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckon/pseuds/Beckon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And, while he was still conflicted about how he felt over the situation, no matter how angry he could be at her... he never would've asked for something like this to happen.</p>
<p>She didn't deserve this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The car door slammed closed behind him as he headed towards the roped off crime scene, easily bypassing the neon yellow tape that could be seen from down the road.

The area was pretty desolated and empty, but... not nearly as isolated as he thought it would be. There was a fairly used back road just ten yards from it and, while most people these days tried to avoid any kind of unpopulated road, that didn't make it abandoned by any means. From what he could tell from a distance and from what he already knew about the area, there was nothing here that could be used to hide a body. It was flat land with barely any vegetation growing on it... it couldn't even hide the empty cans that were littered all over the place.

And that told him enough of what he needed to know about the case so far.

The brief chill in the air hinted at rain again and he wasn't surprised. It seemed like whenever something bad had happened or was going to happen, it would rain- like it was trying to send some kind of warning to them. And that maybe they would do well to pay closer attention to it.

The scene had already been delicately covered on the off chance the weather did decide to downpour on it at any given moment. So there wasn't much that could actually be seen from a distance.

But... he knew what he was going to find underneath the weighed down blue tarps.

"Detective!"

Sebastian looked up at the call and watched as one of the on-duty officers hurried over to him. He already knew what the man was going to say, so he considered ignoring him, but... decided against it.

The officer would only be trying to do his job after all.

"You're not... you're not supposed to be here." the man, Officer Roland, started, stumbling briefly through his sentence as he stopped to catch his breath. Judging from his tired expression and the slight disarray of his uniform, he figured the officer had been doing around-the-clock patrol on the scene for the past day or so. Most of the KPD officers were still tied up dealing with Beacon and the extensive mess that came with it, so he wasn't surprised that some officers had to do back-to-back shifts.

"Then you shouldn't have told me you found her." Sebastian replied, as he pulled on the collar of his trench coat to cut out some of the chill.

Office Roland gave out an exhausted sigh and pushed his fingers through his short hair. "I know, but... well, we had to tell you. The department's been in knots since Beacon and her disappearance only made it worse... and now we have this..." his voice trailed for a moment before he decided to straighten himself up and recompose himself. "And, I know you want to get to the bottom of this, but the department cannot condone personal feelings getting involved."

That was one way of putting it.

"You know the rules, Detective."

He did.

And along with knowing them, he also knew how to bend and, occasionally, break them.

"Have the crime scene units been by to take photos?" he asked.

The officer seemed to hesitate briefly, as though questioning whether it was within protocol to answer him. But it didn't take him long to consider that there would be no harm done in doing so- after all, he would just be answering a few harmless questions. "They took some photos a few hours ago, but they were called out to another case and had to cut short." Roland answered.

"What about Detective Martinez? Has he been notified? Or Detective Bryant for that matter?" Sebastian continued.

The officer remained quiet this time.

The KPD had called in a few Detectives from the surrounding cities to assist with the endlessly occurring murders at first, but had then kept them around to deal with Beacon once it followed shortly after. Both he and Joseph had been barred from working on the case due to their involvement with it, which was within protocol to do. And, in some way, that was just fine with him.

He had no intentions of going back to that place.

For now at least.

"So you have a scene that's been here for a day with little to no work being done on it?" he pressed, watching now as the officer seemed almost tense at the new line of questioning. And part of him hated to have to put the guy through it, but he needed to do this. "One of our officers was found here, my rookie Detective was found here, and you're okay with letting the scene just sit here unanswered?"

"Okay, okay." the officer finally interrupted, sounding utterly defeated now as he briefly raised his hands in a truce. "You're right. As of right now, this scene is for a case of emergency and technically we are all personally involved in this matter. And.... every other Detective in this city can't be here right now and... at this point, we're desperate enough to... bend a few rules if needed be."

"And you called me because you knew I was the only qualified one who would show."

Roland nodded once more in defeat, almost willing now to give up his previous stance.

"Good, now let's stop wasting time."

"Alright then... let's get to work." the man spoke as he ushered him to follow him over to where the blue tarp was slightly blowing with the cold breeze. The slightly damp grass was crushed easily underneath them as they walked the remaining yards to the scene. "The weather reports are saying rain later this night, so it'd be wise if we could get this cleared up before then."

He watched as the officer stooped down and moved one of the small weighs before he grabbed the corner of the tarp and lifted it up.

The grass was still matted down from the weight of her body, giving only a brief outline of how she had been positioned. There was blood all over the place... but something wasn't right...

He knew next to nothing about this case other than that someone wanted her dead... and the only culprit he could think of was someone within her own company. There was no way she'd let herself get taken out like this, not this easily by some unknown assailant. Not to mention, the last he saw of her was when she was leaving with them.

But this... even this seemed far too sloppy for them.

This company, whoever they were, was able to orchestrate an entire recreation of STEM and leave without a single trace... and yet, somehow they couldn't even properly dispose of her.

Something was wrong here... something was missing.

He tried to think back on everything he knew so far.

* * *

  _(flashback)_

He watched as his partner slowly peeled the small bandage off of his shoulder, wincing briefly at the motion before he tossed it into the trashcan nearby. The cluster of stitches that had held his bullet wound closed were still red and somewhat raw-looking. And he watched as Joseph lightly touched around the area- he guessed to test the hold of the stitching since a few of them had already popped loose.

It had been almost two weeks now since he was discharge from the hospital and, while the stitches on his abdomen had healed up just fine; his shoulder was proving to be a bigger issue.

He had been staying with him for most of the two weeks, making sure he was recovering from both STEM and the extended hospital stay. And, asides from the occasional exhaustion and minor side effects from the prescribed medication, he was doing well- at least better than he thought he would.

"You're not going to pass out again, are you?" Sebastian asked, watching as he started the tedious process of cleaning the stitches.

Joseph shot him a brief exasperated look before he went back to focusing on himself. "That was one time." he retorted.

"Still pretty funny though."

His partner shook his head and briefly leaned back in his chair, careful to avoid contact with the stitches on his back just as well. The ones on the back of his shoulder were probably doing even worse. "Yeah, I'm sure it is considering I don't see you with two gunshot wounds."

"And thank God for that." Sebastian remarked, watching as he went about his business. He had originally offered to help with cleaning them, but after a few frustrating attempts and one accidental popped stitch... he decided it was probably best for Joseph to handle them himself. He seemed more in control and knew more about first aid anyways. The sound of his cellphone going off next to him caught him off-guard and he picked it up just enough to see who the calling number was- he didn't know anyone who would be calling him this late at night. And he briefly cursed under his breath when he recognized it. "What the hell do they want now?"

"Work?" Joseph asked, although his tone suggested that he didn't really need to question it.

"Unfortunately." he nodded, before he reluctantly picked it up to answer. "Yeah?"

And he heard the other man give an annoyed sigh as though to air his disappointment with his less-than-professional answer.

"Detective Castellanos, we... uh, we found Kidman."

He nearly dropped his phone at the response.

There was something about the tone in the officer's voice and the way the man worded his sentence... something about it tipped him off. And something told him that he wasn't going to like what came next. He kept a calm demeanor and, before he could even reply, he heard Joseph mutter a brief curse before he pushed himself to his feet. Judging by the way he started out of the room, he could only guess he had managed to make his stitches bleed again- which wasn't uncommon. It seemed to be timed perfectly though and he waited until his partner was out of the room and well into the next before he finally spoke; the words were difficult to force out. "... What do you mean 'found?'"

"A runner found her just on the outskirts of the city." the officer continued.

And he knew that he was right before- whatever was going to come next was not going to be good news.

It felt like his heart was in his throat now. "What happened?"

The small pocket of silence only made the answer worse when it came.

"... Someone put a bullet in her head."

It felt like his entire body ran cold at the words.

Christ... He hadn't been surprised to see her gone by the time they woke up in the basement of Beacon, completely unhooked from whatever that STEM-recreation machine had been. He remembered their encounter at the top of the lighthouse, how they kept their guns trained on one another. Neither of them were willing to take the shot, but were prepared to if it was necessary. She had tried to explain the issue, but gave up on her own accord; she had insisted that he wouldn't understand anyways and he'd be better off if he didn't know. But he knew enough to know that she was behind all of this.

She was responsible for them being dragged into this mess and he needed to see that she was held accountable for that.

But he also remembered her silently gesturing for him to hide his sense of consciousness when he woke up not long after that final battle against Ruvik. He had spotted a few people in the background behind her and heard her speak briefly to them- urging them to hurry along and get everything packed up. And when someone had mentioned them, and mentioned something about 'removing the evidence' she assured them that it had already been done. Despite her knowledge of his revival, she lied and confirmed that there had been no survivors other than herself.

As she simply put it, no one else was leaving.

He hated to admit that, while he still held some anger towards her, without her interference, their fates could've been a lot worse.

And, while he was still conflicted about how he felt overall about the situation, no matter how angry he could be at her... he never would've asked for something like this to happen.

She didn't deserve this.

The officer on the other line nervously cleared his throat as though to interrupt the tense silence. "She's at Krimson Central Hospital right now, but... the doctors aren't certain about her condition. They think she'll pull through, but we have no idea how long she's been out there. She was beaten pretty badly too, so that's proving to be a completely separate issue."

This just kept getting worse.

"How long has she been admitted?" Sebastian asked.

"An hour at most. We tried to call you as soon as we knew, but... we had to get her to the hospital first and then tape off the scene."

He nodded briefly to himself as he moved one hand to his face and tried not to think too much on the situation right now. "... Thanks. Is there... is there any other information you know of?"

"We just got Forensics called up, so they'll be coming in soon- they're on a tight schedule though, so there's no telling how long we can keep them here." the officer replied. "All we got are circumstantial guesses and conspiracy theories being passed around. A lot of the guys are pretty upset about this- obviously whoever did this wanted us to find her. I mean... at least this explains why she wasn't at Beacon with the two of you."

Right...

"Just keep me updated." He replied.

"Will do, sir."

He hung up and slowly set the phone aside. It was pretty obvious that his hands were starting to shake and he didn't bother trying to stop them. It was a lot to deal with at one time, but... he found himself hung up on what the officer had said right towards the end. That her being found like this would explain her absence, that, whoever was involved in the Beacon case, had taken her with them and left the two of them behind. And the longer he thought on that, the more convinced he felt that her company had to have been the one to pull the trigger.

But why?

Were they that pissed that the two of them had walked away? But, if that was the case, then why wait two weeks to have her killed? The Beacon case had been all over the news the moment the first camera showed up at the asylum- and God knows their pictures had been plastered over every single report. If they were really pissed off at her antics, then she would've been dead within two days following the incident.

"What did they want?"

The question caught him by surprise and he looked up in time to see Joseph walk back into the room, a new bandage on his shoulder and a water bottle in one hand. He must've just gone ahead and finished what he needed to do in the other room so he wouldn't interrupt his conversation. And for that, he was partly thankful.

"They're not trying to set up another interrogation, are they?"

Sebastian gave out a sigh and leaned back as he pushed his fingers through his hair. "I wish."

The brief silence from the other man told him that he already knew something was wrong, which was probably just based on the way he acted- and it wasn't like he was really trying all that hard to hide it.

"... What happened?" Joseph finally pressed.

It wasn't that he was reluctant to tell the man what was going on- he just wasn't sure what his reaction might be. Despite previously being in the hospital healing from a gunshot wound that she gave him, Joseph had hardly said a word about his thoughts on the situation. He had showed concern about her well-being after her absence had been noted, but... he never talked about the bullet. Most people, as he would believe, would've been pissed at the prospect of being shot by someone they knew, someone they worked with, but Joseph never mentioned it.

Not even when he pressed the man on the subject.

"They found Kidman." Sebastian replied, watching as his partner seemed to still at the answer. "And, right now, she's at the hospital with a bullet in her head."

The water bottle dropped from his hand and barely bounced once when it hit the ground, before it rolled off. He didn't immediately show any other physical reaction to the news and he guessed that some part of him had always assumed that... something like this was likely to happen.

"... Who would've done that?"

"I don't know." Sebastian answered, before he got to his feet. "The only person who does know, is her..."

* * *

 

Sebastian heard his phone go off and pushed himself to his feet as he fished it out of his pocket.

One look at the caller ID told him to answer it.

"You find anything out?" he asked.

"A few things." Joseph answered. "She's been out of surgery since four this morning and they've got her listed as being in critical condition, but she's been stable for a few hours now- which is good news considering everything that's happened. The doctors have her in an induced coma for now to monitor any brain swelling and to try to reduce any resulting pressure build up. It should help alleviate some of the potential damages done, but... right now they're not sure how extensive the damages are. For now, it doesn't seem like it's as bad as they thought it would be, but it's been less than twenty-four hours, so it's still possible for something to show up."

Sebastian gave out a sigh and briefly turned at the sound of another squad car pulling up to the scene; more than likely, it was just here to drop off officers for the new shift and take the previous ones back to the precinct. "If that's the case then, it sounds like she wasn't out here for too long before that runner found her."

"Which is a good thing." he added. "A few hours makes all the difference with an injury like this."

"She's alive for now and that's all that matters." Sebastian reminded. "... What about the rest of her? The guys on-scene said it was bad."

Joseph sighed briefly on the other end of the phone. "To say that she was beaten pretty badly is an understatement from what I've gathered." and he knew he wasn't going to like what was going to come next. "The doctors are trying to hold off on any non-emergency surgery until the swelling goes down, but they've already had to do two minor surgeries to deal with internal bleeding and her liver on the verge of rupturing. Luckily they caught it in time, but it's still too early to tell what else could be wrong. She's also going to need metal pins in her collarbone and in her left arm, but that's all I've managed to gather so far."

"Fuck."

"Again, she's stable for the time being, so... for now, the odds are on her side."

The issue here was keeping them on her side.

Sebastian briefly brushed his fingers through his hair and watched as the rotating shift of officers stood around the parked vehicle and conversed for a short while. It was a lot of information to take in right now, especially since he still had a lot of questions about her condition. And it was only when he was running over the information did something finally stick out to him. "How exactly did you find all of that out?"

It wasn't the most important thing to ask, but... he highly doubted the doctors would willingly tell Joseph about her condition.

Sure, she was involved in the Beacon case and was now in a new case herself, but the hospital was stingy with giving out information and usually only gave them the bare minimum; which was usually a yes or a no to whether their victim was alive.

"That's what you're concerned with right now?"

The almost sharp tone in his partner's voice told him that the information was either not willingly given away or... not ethically given away.

"Look, the last thing I need to worry about is you getting in trouble for hacking their medical records or something." he spoke, pausing briefly before he continued. "... You didn't hack into their system, did you?"

"What? No, there's no way I would've had the equipment to do that even if I wanted to- not that I know how to." Joseph quickly objected. "And I find it offensive that you think I would know how to and that I would use it to break into case-sensitive medical files."

He probably could've called him out on it and possibly end up uncovering something else about the man, but he decided against it for now. "Well, you know how to defuse bombs, so I figured there was probably something else up your sleeves."

"First off, those aren't even in the same skill set; secondly, I thought we agreed to drop the defusing bombs topic."

"Alright, fine, then how did you get the information? Because I find it hard to believe that the doctors would've willingly told you confidential medical information like that without her knowledge and without you being family."

There was a brief pocket of silence before it was punctured by an audible sigh of defeat. "Fine, not that I understand why you're so desperate to know about this, but I'll tell you. Just let me say ahead of time that I'm not necessarily proud of this, but... we needed to know if she was going to make it or not."

Sebastian couldn't help but pick up on the genuine concern in his voice right at the end. Joseph had assured him earlier that he would try and get whatever information he could from the hospital, but he didn't think the man would be able to get much. Yet, everything he had told him just now was beyond anything he expected- which wasn't much. It just left him wondering just how far his partner's concern had taken him in getting an answer.

"While I was waiting to see if a doctor could get back to me, one of the nurses who had helped tend to my injuries before walked in and came over. She asked the basic questions about how I was doing and I told her that asides from the stitches being an issue from time to time, everything was fine. She made the offer to take a look at them and see if there was anything she could do about the issue. And I figured if I played my cards right, then she might know something about what was going on with Kidman. So, while she was busy looking for a free room, I... may have popped some of the stitches out."

He had to take a moment to fully comprehend what the man was saying and, when it did click, he had to admit he was surprised. "So... on the off-change that you might get some information, you ripped your stitches out and made your barely-healing injury worse?"

"I didn't rip them out... per say." Joseph corrected. "Listen, it doesn't matter now, because it worked alright?"

"You couldn't have just flirted with her and made it easier on yourself?" Sebastian asked, hearing the man audibly groan on the other end. "Or is that how you still got the information? Because some of those nurses were pretty infatuated-"

"No, that's not what happened." he quickly interrupted. "She was talking with some of the other nurses about it and felt bad that Kidman's disappearance case had to end like this. She also knew that Kidman was a part of our team and since she was on-hand yesterday, she was aware of what was going on and just wanted to keep me updated on what was happening with her so far." he paused briefly before he continued. "Like I said, it's not a lot of information, but it's more than what we had before- and it's more than what we could've had. She'll be in the ICU for awhile and the hospital's stingy with visitors, but we might still be able to slip in once the doctors are confident that she'll remain stable."

Sebastian gave out a sigh and watched as the squad cars finally pulled off of the curb and disappeared down the road. God knows how long the officers had been sitting around talking instead of getting to work. "Alright, well... if that's not dedication on your part, then I don't know what is."

"Do you have any information about the scene?" Joseph asked.

Good, a slight change of topic.

"Not a lot, unfortunately, but I can tell you that she wasn't shot here. More than likely, whoever did this committed the beating and shooting elsewhere and then dropped her off here." he answered, making sure to drop his voice slightly as the new shift of officers were starting to walk around and do their perimeter checks. "It seems like they wanted her to be found, but... I don't think they were expecting her to be found alive."

"Sounds like a serious misstep." Joseph spoke. "... Which doesn't fit the situation."

"Exactly." Sebastian nodded. "Which makes me think there's more to this story."

"There's always more." he reminded. "Anything else noticeable at the scene?"

He shrugged briefly at the question. "Not really. There's blood evidence and some tire tracks, but I can assure you that we'll never be able to match them to any vehicle. This case was intended to be an open and shut incident... and you know she won't say a thing when she wakes up."

"... No, of course not."

The man sounded disappointed.

Sebastian sighed once more and glanced at his watch, already noticing the late hour. "It's getting late, you should head home."

"I'm going to make a quick stop by the office before I do, there's something I want to look at."

There was always something Joseph had to do or something he had to look at. "I'm serious. You just got new stitches put in and technically I shouldn't be letting you drive around with all that medication you're on- whatever's at the office can wait." he replied.

"How long are you going to stay at the scene?" Joseph asked.

"Probably another hour, but don't change the subject-"

"I'll see you in an hour then."


	2. Chapter 2

It took nearly a week before her condition had finally stabilized- and remained stabilized.

Even the doctors who had been working around the clock to keep her alive admitted that they were surprised by her turn of condition. Faced with damages to multiple vital organs, along with the brain injury, the doctors had been less than optimistic about her recovery.

They had even gone out of their way to remind everyone that just because her condition had stabilized, it didn't mean she was out of danger just yet. They still had no clear idea of the possible damages that could have resulted from the gunshot.

Her brain still showed signs of activity though, which was promising.

The following week, the doctors carefully took her out of the induced coma and told everyone the best they could do was wait and pray.

* * *

 

"Be honest, what do you think?" Joseph asked.

Sebastian sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he stared at the bumper of the car in front of them- traffic was absolute shit today. He wasn't surprised that the question would come up at a time like this, but he hadn't exactly worked out an answer for it. In some way, he guessed he didn't want to think of one; he didn't want to give himself the possibility of over thinking something or only thinking of the worst things that could come from this. The situation was stressed enough as it was... and he'd only be making it even more difficult for himself. But the question was out there now and... he couldn't just ignore it. "I don't know. She could possibly understand that we're not here to demand answers and that, we honestly want to know if she's okay."

"Or?"

Of course his partner would press him for another answer.

"... Or she only agreed to see us just so she can tell us to fuck off and leave her alone."

Joseph shook his head and gave a brief chuckle. "Sadly enough, both of those options seem pretty plausible."

* * *

 

Four days later, after being released from the induced coma, she regained consciousness on her own.

There were no serious side effects.

No lingering damages.

In fact, somehow, her partially-ruptured liver had caused more issues than the bullet in her head did.

She was an incredibly rare statistic- thankfully.

Asides from mild irritability and annoyance, she was fairly lucid and coherent- at least, that was what the nurses had reported. Although, she didn't remember much of anything, which was of no surprise to anyone. The doctors were just surprised at how quickly she had recovered from the induced coma; she had recovered far better than they had anticipated.

The staff joked that there must've been something special about her brain.

Needless to say, neither of them found it funny.

Still, the doctors kept her under close watch for nearly a week more, before they finally allowed for a limited number of visitors. They were quick to state that too many visitors or any unwanted visitors would do more harm than good. And, despite protests from the department, the hospital refused to allow any sort of questioning or interrogations to happen during any of the visits. They, once more, stated that she was still in a delicate condition and she didn't need to be pressured to remember something.

But, she had the power to choose who she did or didn't want to see.

So he was surprised to find out that she had approved their request.

And, after they were hassled by the hospital staff and swore an oath that they weren't going to interrogate her either, the hospital approved them as well.

* * *

 

"Just... don't be an asshole, okay?"

"Why would you automatically assume I would be?" Sebastian asked in return.

Joseph sighed and briefly rubbed at his left shoulder, a gesture he had seemingly developed ever since the stitches came out. It still left a pretty sizable scar that didn't exactly heal cleanly, and there was talk about having a second procedure done to try and fix some of the lingering nerve pain. "Because, ever since Beacon, you've said some less than appropriate things about her."

"I didn't say that much in bad spirit." he started, although knowing well that he did say quite enough.

"No, you didn't. I suppose you could've said much worse, but still."

Joseph always had to make some kind of lingering comment.

"You'll have to excuse me then- it's not like she put a bullet into you or anything."

"And yet, you don't hear me saying anything about it."

* * *

 

Somehow, he figured he knew the decision couldn't have been easy for her to make and, more than likely, she was just trying to get them out of her way. There was a lot for them to talk about, but he certainly wasn't going to bring it up now. Sure, he still had a lot of conflicted feelings about what had happened back in STEM and at Beacon, but... he wasn't a complete asshole.

He wasn't going to start demanding answers while she was in the hospital. Not while she was nursing a bullet to the head given to her by the same company who had roped all of them into this from the beginning.

And again, maybe she understood that.

...

He was beginning to hate hospitals with how many times he had been here in the past month or so. When he wasn't the one actually committed as a patient, then he was the one visiting- and God knows how many times he had dropped by after leaving the office.

Still, he wasn't surprised to find himself actually hesitating to walk into her hospital room.

They had set up the visit like it was some kind of appointment; there was no randomly showing up at any given time, instead they were to be here at two o'clock sharp. He assumed it was so the visit would be between the nursing rounds and they wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted. And despite having a week's notice, he still hadn't worked out exactly what he was going to say. Then again, at this point, it didn't really matter- it was too late for him to back out.

He half expected Joseph to make a comment on what was taking him so long to go in, but he didn't- he was probably feeling the same way anyways.

Half forcing himself to, he pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside- pausing just long enough to give the room itself a brief look over.

Asides from the standard hospital bed and a few machines, it looked like every open surface in the room was covered in flowers. There had to have been at least thirty vases all over the place- with most of them crammed rather dangerously together on small surfaces. There were a few sympathy arrangements in one corner and a few wreaths that had been haphazardly hung up on the wall closest to her bed.

He knew the KPD had sent flowers, but... it looked like just about everyone in the damn city had done so as well.

And he couldn't help but remember how she had once, off-handedly, remarked that she wasn't a big fan of flowers.

They had to mind their steps as they slowly walked over to her bedside- careful to not accidentally bump into one of the bouquets. All it would take was one small bump and he was certain the rest would go down in a domino effect.

Kidman looked like she was sleeping- probably exhausted from whatever medication she was on.

And she looked terrible.

There was hardly any resemblance to the woman he had last seen at the top of Beacon, standing across from him with her gun trained on his every movement. He would've considered her looking almost weak in that one moment, and yet... she hardly looked as though she could even hold a gun now.

Her skin was almost a sickly pale and she looked thinner now- no doubt the induced coma had something to do with that. Her left arm was bandaged and in somewhat of a sling that was pulled across her abdomen, more than likely from the surgery that was done to correct her shattered collarbone and forearm. There were healing bruises that covered the entirety of the right portion of her face, and it was evident that her nose had previously been broken and her lips had been split apart; in fact, she still had a few stitches present across her upper lip.

Her right eye was heavily bruised, but there were little signs of swelling- so, at least, it too was on the healing end.

But, perhaps the most damning part, was the bandage that was still partly wrapped around her head.

Even after a three-week healing period, it still looked like she was barely surviving.

And he couldn't help but to feel a quiet sense of anger at the entire situation. Because despite everything that had happened, despite what she had done... she didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

It almost made him want to hunt down the people who had put their hands on her.

"Did you come to finish the job?"

He heard her voice first, as faint and exhausted as it was, before he watched the way she slowly opened her eyes; her right eye, which remained partly closed, still had blood filling in the white space around her pupil. And, in her usual fashion, she showed nothing. There was no emotion, no facial movement... just nothing.

Still, he was taken back by the question- of all the fucking conclusions to jump to.

"No." Sebastian answered, hearing his own tone come out more stiff than he would've liked. He was still caught up on the anger and disbelief over this whole situation- and he almost hated this feeling of protectiveness he had towards her. Before, at least before anything to do with Beacon, it was just a mild feeling that he had that he used to keep the other officers in the department from uncomfortably hitting on her. But this... this whole situation... he couldn't protect her from any of it- and he hated it. "Believe it or not, Kid, we actually wanted to make sure you were okay- or at least alive."

She didn't seem to believe him in the slightest sense, but said nothing in return.

He felt Joseph briefly grab his arm and pull him back, as though silently to say that he had started them both off on the wrong foot.

Which he couldn't deny that he had.

"How are you feeling?" Joseph asked instead- attempting to break the set tension and pull the conversation back around.

For just a brief, split second, Kidman looked surprised to notice that the other man was there with him. A short sigh escaped her as she lightly touched at the bandage that was wrapped around her head. "... Well, with the exception of the bullet that went through my brain, I'm feeling better than I thought. A little tired, but... that's all."

Her answer seemed to be a bit of an understatement.

Sebastian silently sighed and tried to keep himself calmer this time before he spoke. "So it's not worth asking who did this, right?"

"This is not the time for that-" Joseph started.

"No, no, it's... it's fine." she slowly assured, as she briefly moved herself into a more comfortable position- which seemed to be a little difficult to do with one functional arm. Not to mention, with the still healing head wound. "Great use of your Detective skills though." well, at least the bullet didn't damage her overly welcomed sense of sarcasm. Then again, if she was in the mood to be sarcastic then... at least that meant she was healing just fine. "But no, you're not wrong. I failed my assignment and there was no recovering from it, so... I had to be taken out. Simple as that."

The answer was still hard to believe even when it came directly from her... but it confirmed everything that he had had suspicious about before.

And it was almost sickening how calmly she had answered with it.

"So this company, or whoever you worked for, had you beaten and shot?" Sebastian questioned, still not wanting to believe that that was the entire story here.

"And unfortunately, I survived." Kidman finished, giving him a brief shrug.

This whole situation just... didn't seem to phase her in the least bit. She looked as though she could just casually brush the whole thing aside and continue on with her life as it was. The thought that she could've possibly died didn't even seem to phase her- if anything, it seemed like she was disappointed that she wasn't killed.

He damn well knew that she knew what his next question was going to be and yet... she made no attempts to stop him.

"... Why?" he pressed. "Because you didn't get Leslie?"

A rough sigh escaped her this time as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's more than just that-"

"Then what's the whole story here?"

"Calm down." Joseph interrupted, as he pulled him by the arm again. "Give her some space, okay? I know we all want answers to this, but this is not the time or place. She needs to focus on her health first and the last thing we need to do is bombard her with questions- this isn't an interrogation." he paused briefly before he let go of his arm, giving out a tired sigh as he did. "And if the staff finds out that we were asking these kinds of questions, they'll have us removed."

It was odd how strangely protective he had become as well.

But he had a point; they had basically sworn an oath that they weren't here on department business. And while, technically, this was far from being involved with the department, they should still refrain from asking too many questions about it.

Kidman hesitated for a moment and awkwardly seemed to tug at the collar of her hospital gown. "It's fine." she repeated. "I only agreed to speak with the two of you so I could go ahead and get this conversation over with."

He figured as much, but it was still better than her telling them to fuck off- although that was still a possibility.

"I was instructed to kill Leslie before Ruvik reached him." she started. "What you didn't understand was that Ruvik could use Leslie as a means to escape STEM himself. And we... we couldn't risk Ruvik getting out. However, because I ran into some unexpected opposition, I wasn't able to kill him in time." she took a brief pause, as though to let him know that that portion had been his fault. "You were able to destroy Ruvik and ultimately destroy the STEM world, but... it was too late."

"Too late?" Sebastian repeated cautiously.

"Ruvik was able to implant his consciousness into Leslie. When you destroyed STEM and successfully managed to release us... Ruvik was also released."

It suddenly felt like someone had punched him square in the gut.

"... You mean to tell me that Ruvik's in this world now?" he asked.

Kidman nodded. "Something like that."

Just fucking... perfect.

This was the kind of information he would've been glad to have beforehand.

If Ruvik escaped then... that meant that that entire nightmare had been for nothing. It essentially meant that he had never destroyed Ruvik in the first place- just a shell of what physical form he had left. And even then, that probably did more good for Ruvik than anyone else- Christ.

Kidman seemed to tug on the straps of the sling for a second or two before she spoke again- and when she did, she almost sounded reluctant to bring it up. "Not to mention... they weren't exactly happy with me lying about the two of you."

"What do you mean?" Joseph queried.

The man had been rather quiet during this whole interaction- which seemed a little odd for him.

"When my team and I were departing... I lied and told them that the two of you had died before STEM disconnected." she answered, slowly at first, as bruised fingers now moved to tuck aside a straying lock of hair. "I had wiped out the data from your monitors beforehand, so no one even questioned it. If Mobius knew that the two of you had lived, they would've had the both of you killed to prevent knowledge of this incident from getting out." she paused for a moment to catch her breath and rubbed at the back of her neck. "I knew the lie wouldn't last, but I figured by the time the news came out with the update, we would be so far away that it wouldn't matter. Obviously... that wasn't the case. The fact of the matter is, I failed on two fronts and that makes me a liability for them now."

To say that he was stunned by her admission would be an understatement.

He vaguely remembered her when he woke up and he remembered how she gestured for him to keep quiet, but... he had been too out of it to understand what she was doing. And he remembered her calling out to someone he couldn't see and telling whoever it was to leave them behind. At the time, he didn't really know what to think about it all- he just knew that she was keeping them there for some reason.

...

But, in the end, she had been trying to protect them.

And, for a moment, he was flooded with guilt- realizing now that they were partly to blame for the condition she was in now. While that was a bit of a jump considering that they had no say in the entire STEM situation... it was still enough to plague him.

"So what happens now?" Joseph asked. "Will this 'Mobius' come back once they've realized that you survived?"

It looked as thought it took her a moment or two to think her answer over, and in the meantime, she tugged on her collar once more. "No." she quietly answered at last. "I'm not worth their time now."

After all of that work... she was nothing?

"You can't be serious." Sebastian remarked.

"Unfortunately I am." Kidman replied. "I don't have to worry though... in due time, they'll come back around."

Her words were enough to cause him to pause briefly. Was she insinuating that she would go back to them? That, despite putting a bullet in her head, she would willingly go back to working for them? That, despite the hellhole of going through STEM and dealing with Beacon and Ruvik... she would just push all of that under the rug?

"... Why the hell would you go back?" Sebastian pressed.

Again, he knew he was letting his temper slip, but she had to be smarter than this.

She almost glared at him in response, but said nothing- at least, not immediately.

When she did speak though, her voice was firm, but low.

"It's not like I have anywhere else to go." Kidman stiffly answered, fingers briefly curling into the thin hospital gown. "... The only parts of my life that I can remember are with Mobius. I don't know anything else, but Mobius."

... Shit.

He had pushed her a little too hard with that one, he knew that now.

...

She had remarked a few, very rare times before about her lack of memory. She always aligned it to some kind of traumatic experience that she had forcefully made herself forget about in some way; although, once, she had somewhat tossed around the idea that maybe someone had made her forget it.

And right about now, that second option didn't seem as far-fetched as it had before.

Maybe these Mobius people had something to do with her lack of firm memory.

"So... what happens now?" Joseph asked.

She gave a brief shrug once more, suddenly looking more exhausted than she did before. "I don't know." Kidman answered. "I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time and see what happens."

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Let me just give a warning in advance and say that this was initially just me getting down an idea. And while, on one hand, I would love to take it further and go somewhere with it, I just don't have enough ideas to really get it going anywhere. There's still a possibility for it to be picked up somewhere down the road, but I only have two chapters planned out for now.


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